


Xalek's Lesson

by Stareyed



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Master and Apprentice, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 08:54:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stareyed/pseuds/Stareyed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xalek and Ashara get a lesson from their (LSM! Sorcerer) Master.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Xalek's Lesson

**Author's Note:**

> This was my very first fanfic ever written - if the feedback is positive, it will become part of a series.

Xalek’s Lesson

Part of _The Adventures of the Mad Sith Lord Cathan_

_“Thought is the parent of victory.” –_ Mandalorian saying.

 

_“Teach me, master.”_ The hulking Kaleesh towered over the much smaller Human in front of him, yet the man did not so much as bat an eyelid, far less cease his meditation.

“Why should I, Xalek?” As the Kaleesh fingered his sabrestaff hilt, Cathan half-opened one eye and inched his hand subtly-closer to his own lightsabre’s hilt, against the possibility that his frustrated apprentice would give in to his rage, as he had on occasion before. Instead, Xalek swore at his master in Kaleesh, and angrily stormed out of the human’s chamber. A few moments later, a Togruta woman, shapely and pretty, showed up in the doorway. “You took quite a chance there, my Lord.” As the man’s face twitched in annoyance, she took a half-step backward, but relaxed as his expression settled into the half-sarcastic look it took on so often.

“Oh, get in here and close the damn hatch. If I’m to lose my meditation, I’d at least rather that my secrets weren’t bandied about for all the ship to hear.” As she complied, he stood and faced her. “Consider, Ashara – if I _were_ to give in to Xalek’s demands, and just _teach_ him, what do you think he’d _learn_?” Ashara looked a touch puzzled, and sat on the double bed to think a moment before replying. Cathan had always taken his duties as a Master – hers and Xalek’s  - seriously, which made this sudden, blanket refusal to teach the Kaleesh apprentice rather out of character, and she had been thinking on it for some time. “Well, whatever you’d teach him……right?”

Rolling his eyes, he sat on the opposite side of the bed. “He would learn that, to be sure. He would also learn that yelling at me gets him what he wants. He would learn that I can be bullied. He would learn, worst of all, that the secrets of the Force are there for the taking, instead of earning them for himself. So, with all of this added, Ashara: what kind of Sith would I train if I gave into Xalek’s demand?” Her mouth formed a perfect “O” as she understood, and just as swiftly closed to frame her reply. “You would make a petty, undisciplined bully of a Sith Lord. Which is exactly the opposite of what you are trying to make.”

Her Lord stood, slowly applauding her. “Almost entirely correct. Xalek would also be ignorant if I just rote-taught him rather than teaching him to think for himself, which is even worse than the rest.” He looked ready to add to this statement, but the door opened, with a now-chastened Xalek entering. “Teach me, Master.” With a slight upturn on one side of his mouth, the Lord asked, “Why should I?” This time, Xalek was ready with a reply.

“Because it is to your benefit, Master.”

Taking the resulting silence as permission to elaborate, Xalek did so. “You frequently call upon my blade in the field, Master. The more I know, the more use I can be to you. Therefore, you should teach me.” After finishing, he looked to his Master, just a bit uncertain of how the mercurial Sith Lord would react. To his relief, there was a half-smile on his Master’s face. “Very good, my apprentice. Indeed, I do benefit from your learning, and so I should indeed teach you. There is one other reason that I should teach you – reason it out, and I shall give you a lesson.” Now Xalek was confident – he knew of another reason his Master should give him a lesson.

“You should teach me because you gave your word to be a good and worthy Master.” Openly smiling, Cathan made a “go on” gesture, ordering Xalek to carry the thought to its conclusion. “You seek to be known as an honourable Lord, and so it is in your interest to teach me.” Shaking a finger at his apprentice, Cathan swiftly rebuked him. “No, Xalek, no. You’ve already said why it’s in my interest – you don’t need to go on giving me _more_ reasons why it’s in my interest. You’re partway there – the reason I should teach you is related to the promise I gave you. But it has little to do with _my_ self-interest. Take that thought, and run in another direction.”

After thinking for a long moment, the Kaleesh replied. “Because I gave my word to be a good Apprentice, Master. And I can only be a good Apprentice if I learn, and therefore you should teach me, so that our bargain may be fulfilled.” Beckoning Xalek over, the Sith Lord placed one hand on his shoulder. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? Now, as to the lesson: attend, and you also, Ashara.” Taking up a dozen or so dice, he instructed his two apprentices. “The first precept of true mastery over the Force – and this is true for both Jedi and Sith – is control over the self. The most powerful, most determined, most visionary mind can achieve little, so long as it is shackled by indiscipline. Observe.” Tossing the dice into the air, he extended his consciousness to them as they tumbled, and before the eyes of his apprentices, the dice slowed, then stopped. Not stopping at this commonplace and rather basic trick, the master then set them moving – slowly at first, then into a complex, swift pattern resembling the orbital patterns of a star, its planets and their moons. Each item kept place and time with all the others, creating a mock orrery in the middle of the cabin. Further, upon closer examination, the dice each rotated at a set pace on their own axes.

“Now, I know the pair of you, and so I know what you are thinking: that this is a neat parlour trick, nothing more. Rest assured, this is more than parlour magic. The same discipline and self-control which enables me to perform this trick also enables me to direct my lightning blasts in combat, such that they hit our enemies, and not either of you. The same discipline and self-control which makes possible my use of the passions of the Force to heal, rather than destroy as Jedi claim they must. The same discipline, and self-control, which enabled me to defeat Thanaton in personal combat. For all his philosophical shortcomings, Thanaton understood to the fullest the value of such precision. His understanding and application of this was what made him so powerful with the Force, and guaranteed his place on the Dark Council until I came along. Rather a pity I was forced to slay him, in fact….certainly, the Sith are poorer for his loss.” Shaking off the reverie which always gripped him upon mention of his predecessor, Cathan continued. “You have seen, now do. You know the principles, now act upon them.”

After several minutes of practising, each apprentice in turn had mastered the rudiments of the complex arrangement. Xalek could only form the dice into a crude globe (which he could then manipulate as a whole object or in parts), while Ashara had managed a much simpler version of her master’s mini-orrery, although it only moved in a much more hesitant and jerky fashion. Cathan placed one hand on each student’s shoulder, and congratulated each of them. “You are quick learners, my students. Take the dice, and practise your skills – and your discipline in control.”

Taking a sip of water from the carafe on his bedside table, he continued: “I have explained to you why such discipline and self-control is important to me, my apprentices. Why is it important to you? No – do not answer now. Rather, consider my question, and render me an answer as payment for your next lesson.” Smiling openly at the disgusted look on Xalek’s face – the Kaleesh apprentice hated focussed, calm thought as much as he hated Jedi – Cathan waved the two out of his cabin. “Now, out with you both. I must get some meditation done – I was very near the answer to a particular problem before you two came in.”


End file.
